A good way to get some initial experience in these industries, while still in school, is with a focused internship, or senior design project, or a student research project.

The automotive industry (final assembly and parts manufacturing of cars, trucks & motorcycles) has been hiring lean/six sigma project leaders, at their assembly plants in different parts of the U.S. (many of the companies are foreign-owned).

The healthcare industry (hospitals and hospital consulting firms) has been hiring management engineers and project leaders to do in-house investigations and process improvements of all their hospital activities.

Management consulting companies and engineering consulting companies have been hiring entry-level consultants, to work on investigative projects (process improvement, production control, inventory control, systems analysis, and big data analysis) for their external clients.

Construction companies have been hiring project schedulers and project managers (in-training), for their large construction projects. Much of the work is often performed on-site.

Warehousing and transportation companies (truck, rail, & container ships) have been hiring in-house process improvement managers to analyze and improve their operations. There are also consulting companies that specialize in this type of work.

Federal and state agencies (including military installations) have been hiring process improvement specialists to look for improvements in all of their operations. Often this work is performed on a project basis by specialized consulting companies.